The Winter Queen

Royalty sells. Throw a dart at the entertainment industry and it will hit a royal tale in production. Our obsession with all things purple-­tinged is so voracious that creators are plumbing dynastic genealogies and historical records for the next big thing. No topic or character is too esoteric. This fascination is easy to understand: in a celebrity-­obsessed world, royalty is off limits to all but a select few. To access the sanctum, one must either be born a royal or marry one. With only a few thrones surviving in Europe, and a few others scattered around the world, their mystique is only increasing.

David Elias has added the dramatic life of Elizabeth of Bohemia to the pile. He chose well. There was so much turmoil and intrigue in the Tudor and Stuart eras that the times are plumbed constantly for new stories. The Favourite, the award winner directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and set in Queen Anne’s court, is just one recent...